My Two Dollars

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The first 30 years of my life I was convinced it was the other way around. I believed that in order to be successful you had to make a lot of money, at any price, even if it meant that you hated what you did for a living. After all, what was more important than making a lot of money?

I always talk on here about watching your spending, staying out of debt, to stop spending on useless “stuff” that doesn’t bring real benefit to your life, etc.. But that doesn’t mean you should be a cheap bastard with your money, either.

OK, times are tough – We all know it. Right now, you might be worrying about how to pay for groceries or the gasoline in your car, and we can use all the help you can get to stretch each and every dollar. Luckily, I have a few friends that have plenty of tips for saving money and I asked them to send them all to me so I could assemble a list for you – the person looking to save money.

At my house, basic digital cable TV cost over $69 per month (plus taxes) and I watch maybe 10 or 15 of the 150+ channels that they provide me, meaning that I pay for many channels that I have no interest in. With the price of just about everything headed skyward, and paychecks plummeting, paid cable and satellite TV is often one of the first things to go from anyone’s budget.

An estimated 2.7 million American households could refinance to today’s mortgage rates (which are near historic lows, in case you haven’t been paying attention) through the gov’s HARP program. And they can do it even if they owe more money than their home is worth. Up to 200%. But they aren’t. And we don’t know why.

Some people see cable TV as a luxury. Others see it as a waste of money. Like the majority of people, I fall somewhere between the two extremes. Regardless of how you feel about cable TV, you should do whatever it takes to save money on your cable services.

A couple of months ago I reviewed my budget and decided it was time to cut back on my cable bill. I don’t mind paying for this expense, but I realized that over time I kept adding to my cable services and my monthly bill had become exorbitant. I was paying for services that I didn’t really need. As a result, I decided to make some changes and the changes I made will save me $300 over the next year. Some step-by-step tips to cut your cable bill by $25 a month include:

From a financial perspective, buying a used car as opposed to a brand new car is beneficial in a number of ways. Not only is the asking price lower, but you are in a position to avoid the massive depreciation in value that occurs during the first year of new car ownership.

Of course, just because you are saving money by purchasing used does not mean you should agree to pay the sticker price. There are steps you can take to negotiate a better deal – so why not save even more money?

With tax time right around the corner, many people are starting to get all their filing information together, such as receipts, donation records, bank statements, and 1099 forms. And while it’s important to make sure you have all the relevant documents so you can file your taxes correctly, it’s just as important to be sure you don’t skip any deductions which you may be eligible for. So before you send that paperwork in to the IRS come April, make sure you aren’t missing any of these 13 most commonly overlooked tax deductions.

The other day I came across a saying that made me really give thought to the amount of time I have left in my life and what I want to do with it. Comparing the time I have left to accomplish my goals to the balance in a dwindling bank account made me really reflect on the similarities between the two. Here is part of this saying: